Droughts are causing severe damages to tropical countries worldwide. Although water abundant, their resilience to water shortages during dry periods is often low. As there is little knowledge about tropical drought characteristics, reliable methodologies to evaluate drought risk in data scarce tropical regions are needed.
Accurate and operational indicators of the start of growing season (SOS) are critical for crop modeling, famine early warning, and agricultural management in the developing world. Erroneous SOS estimates–late, or early, relative to actual planting dates–can lead to inaccurate crop production and food-availability forecasts. Adapting rainfed agriculture to climate change requires improved harmonization of planting with the onset of rains, and the rising ubiquity of mobile phones in east Africa enables real-time monitoring of this important agricultural decision.